› added 11 months ago

36

TIL Strapped for cash, the Shah of Persia once agreed to sell effectively his country's entire infrastructure to Paul Reuter(founder of Reuter's). Deemed "the most complete surrender of the entire industrial resources of a kingdom ever", it was rejected by the british, who found it too excessive

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

Bg88x TIL about the "Demon Core" a plutonium core of an atomic bomb designated to be the 3rd nuclear bomb dropped on Japan during WWII, but after Japan surrendered the core was used for research at Los Alamos National Labs in New Mexico where it was involved in two fatal accidents.
ADMB4 TIL of Distichlis palmeri, a grain plant with a high salt tolerance. Until recently it was thought to be extinct. But a breeding program of the remaining plants has bred varieties with yields of 2 tons per hectare, and is a strong candidate to become a major global food crop.
b6prQ TIL that the makers of Donkey Kong Country wanted the Kongs to be voiced by actual gorillas and spent hours recording some at a zoo, only to realize that gorillas are actually very quiet. Finding themselves without sounds to work with, they had a programmer do gorilla impressions instead.
ZpjBa TIL that on his first appearance, Lex Luthor had a full set of red hair, his Iconic bald look was the result of one of the artist at DC mistaking one of his Henchmen in the earlier comics for the real Lex.
b8KZ TIL that Nepal Airlines have the worst safety record in the world, and have sacrificed goats to fix technical problems.